It has been a while since I’ve read a mystery. This one was unique – a history/mystery mix set in 1950’s Bombay, India, just after Partition. The main character is the first female police investigator, and so we join her in her struggles to deal with prejudiced coworkers, bosses, family members, and even regular people on the street who can’t imagine a woman doing what had been a man’s job for so long.
Oh, and she also has to solve a murder.
I thought the book was well-balanced between telling the history of that time along with telling a compelling story of a murder. Thanks to the history the possible motives suddenly multiply and make her task even harder.
It was an entertaining book but I sometimes felt like it was a little too formulaic – it has all the necessary beats of a detective novel, which sometimes pulled me out of the story and setting. The big reveal at the end had a Scooby-Do feeling to it – with every detail fully explained. As long as we are inventing why not invent a little more?
The series continues, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep reading. Next I am reading The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier.
